Defense One reports, “The Air Force has long struggled with a shortage of fighter pilots, with 1,150 empty billets in 2024, and aviators leaving the service in droves. How can they turn things around? Buy more planes and keep more pilots in its reserve component, says a new policy paper from a prominent aerospace think tank.”
Full Story (Defense One)
Tag: Pilot Shortage
Airlines Experiencing Pilot Shortage
Bloomberg reported that US airlines are experiencing an ongoing pilot shortage, “but a purging of employees at the start of the downturn in 2020 has left the industry ill-prepared for a rebound.” American Airlines CEO Robert Ison said, “We don’t have the regional aircraft flying the summer right now [that] we would like.” Ison added, “This is a fantastic opportunity for people that want to come in and fly planes. They can make a lot of money.” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said on an earnings call last week, “The pilot shortage for the industry is real and most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plans because there simply aren’t enough pilots, at least not for the next five-plus years.” As a result, United likely will not operate 150 regional jets due to a lack of pilots, even though there is demand for flights. Bloomberg said airlines have “scaled back plans for a rapid resumption of pre-pandemic flight schedules,” with United planning to operate 13% fewer flights in the second quarter than in the same quarter in 2019. Likewise, Delta Air Lines plans to operate 16% fewer flights, and American Airlines 8% fewer flights, mostly due to a lack of pilots at regional airlines. Bloomberg added that both American and United are working with Landline Co. to offer bus service between regional airports and larger airports.
Full Story (Bloomberg)
Alaska Airlines Faces Acute Pilot Shortage
The Miami Herald reports that the omicron variant surge and December snowstorm have caused critical delays to Alaska Airline’s new pilot training program. The Air Line Pilots Association union had warned Alaska Airlines management for some time that a pilot shortage was coming.
Full Story (Miami Herald)
Flexjet to Hire 350 Pilots
ExecutiveGov reports that NASA “has selected five universities to design research experiments that will take place on the International Space Station.” Each awardee “will receive approximately $100,000 to formulate these experiments under the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research or EPSCoR program.” The awardees are: Montana State University, New Mexico State University, the University of Delaware, the University of Idaho, and the University of Nebraska.
Full Story (ExecutiveGov)
Commercial Aviation Faces Pilot Shortage
The Dallas Morning News reports that regional airlines are already feeling the effect of the “long-foretold” pilot shortage, as SkyWest Airlines “cited a shortage of pilots while petitioning the government to drop service to 29 cities.” The Morning News adds that the pilot shortage “may hinder a travel industry that’s already struggling to emerge from two years of pandemic pain,” as Oliver Wyman expects a shortage of 19,000 pilots across the world by the end of the year. The Morning News explains that regional airlines “will get hit the hardest because the country’s mainline carriers, including American, Southwest, United and Delta, pay much better than regional airlines and usually treat those smaller companies as farm teams to fill their big-league rosters of pilots.” United and Delta are also mentioned as having “cadet programs” aimed at bolstering their pilot figures.
Full Story (Dallas Morning News)